Pretty green eyes
by jellyturtle
Summary: What happens when Nico di Angelo finds a girl in the forest in the middle of the night? Will he save her from the monster? Will something else form from their funny friendship? Well, read on and find out! :D  Thanks for helping me, Faaairfairy.hahaha
1. You're gonna bleed to death out here

The sky was inky black with grey cotton candy shaped clouds, twinkling stars were scattered all over the dark sky. Camp Half Blood seemed so peaceful at night. With messy hair as dark as the night sky, pale skin, and olive green eyes, Nico di Angelo was out of bed and wandering about the grounds late at night. But he wasn't alone, he had Mrs O' Leary walking right next to him, her tongue hanging out of her mouth. He looked at her and grinned, "You seem happy tonight."

Walking alone in the forest was dangerous, but if you have a huge black Hellhound and you're practically radiating death, who would want to even lay a finger on you?

Mrs O' Leary was hungry and Nico couldn't even get to sleep that night, so he took Mrs O' Leary out to the forest for some food. Not long into the forest, Mrs O' Leary's head shot up instinctively, as if hearing something, like a squirrel or some monster. She then began to run in that direction, "Hey!" Nico shouted after her.

Mrs O' Leary was a huge dog, he was trying so hard to keep up with her. She started to shadow travel a few metres at a time before she stopped and got into a pouncing stance. When he finally caught up with her, he was out of breath. Nico looked up to see that Mrs O' Leary had lead him to Zeus' Fist. Thanks to the moonlight that night, Nico was able to make out a figure of a girl, she was armed with a bow and arrow. A huge scorpion was standing opposite her. The scorpion was three metres long, it had jagged pincers, an armoured tail and a poisonous sting. The girl fired her arrows, but they just bounced off its armoured shell.

Without warning, Mrs O' Leary pounced on to the creature. Nico took this moment to grab the girl and helped her to her feet. "Who are you?" The girl asked, but there was no time to explain now, not when you've got two abnormally huge creatures behind you fighting.

"Later!" Nico answered, and they both headed for the protection of the dense forest. After a few minutes of half carrying and half leading the girl, Nico finally decided that they should probably shadow travel. After all, her leg was injured and she's got cuts on her arms and legs. In short, she was injured real badly. She was probably going to bleed to death or something. "Okay. Listen, whether you like it or not, we're gonna shadow travel."

"What? Wait! Shadow travel? Oh my gods! You're the Son of Hades?" She said, completely bewildered.

"Yup. Pleasure to meet you too." He said, "Anyway, we're gonna shadow travel already… You're going to bleed to death out here."

The girl let out a soft laughter. "I'm going to be all right."

Nico purposely nudged her sprained ankle and she groaned in pain. "Yeah. You're perfectly fine. I can see that." His words were just oozing with sarcasm, and he got hit on the back real hard. "Okay, okay!" he said laughingly. Wow. He was laughing? He hasn't laugh in a gajillion years or something. "Hold on tight." The girl hugged Nico's arm tightly and they were zooming through the darkness, feeling an icy pain and hearing weird noises

The next time they opened their eyes, they were at the fighting arena. A great wave of tiredness hit Nico, and he staggered back a few feet. "Are you all right?" The girl quickly grabbed Nico before he fell.

"Yeah. Just tired. A little." Nico explained. "Let's get you back to your cabin… which is…?" He asked.

"Oh. Demeter's. But I think I'll be all right from here. I think you're the one who needs the attention." And Nico looked up to see a pair of emerald green eyes that twinkled like the stars that night. Before he could say anymore, someone called out, "Gwen? Gwen? Where are you?" And a tall blonde dude stepped out of the shadows. Upon seeing the girl, his eyes widen. "Gwen!" It took a few seconds for Nico to let the information seep into his mind. The girl was called Gwen. She had pretty green eyes and belongs to the Demeter cabin. And she was limping to the tall blonde guy, maybe he was from the same cabin too. The blonde guy ran up to Gwen and locked her in his arms. " Gwyneth Andrews! Where were you? Do you know how worried we were? Thank the gods you're not dead!"

"Jared," She said. "I'm all right. If I was dead, I wouldn't even be here. It's thanks to Nico." She looked back at Nico and said, "Thanks a lot." She flashed him a dazzling smile.

"N-no problem." He stuttered stupidly.

Jared then let go of Gwen and faced Nico, "Yeah. Thanks, Nico." He said a little reluctantly and forced a smile. He turned back to Gwen and showed off his charming smile, "Let's go back and get those injuries treated. And on the way, you can tell me what had happened." He started to walk, but Gwen weighed him down. Apparently, she didn't want to leave yet.

Gwen turned back to Nico and limped back to him. She grabbed his hands and said, "Thanks." She smiled. "Thanks so much. And take care." She said it as if they were never going to meet each other again, but this is camp Half-Blood. The place where the probability of you meeting the same person is pretty high.

But Nico just said, "Yeah I will." And he returned a smile. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, and Gwen smiled back at him. She let go of his hands and went back to Jared.

Nico watched them go off until they turned a corner and disappeared from sight. When she was holding his hands, he didn't want to let go of hers. Nico felt a strange elation.

After shadow traveling, Nico did feel tired and finally decided to retire back to his warm bed that awaits him in his cabin.

The morning light peeped in and this, made Nico wake up from his dreamless sleep. He stared at his black ceiling, and recalled what happened the previous night. Gwen, the girl with green eyes. Is she okay? Has she healed up already? Will she still be practicing today despite her injured ankle? Was she even awake now? Then he stopped. Why was he even thinking about her? Did she really matter that much to him? He reassured himself that tall blonde and handsome would take good care of her. He reluctantly got out of bed and realized he was still tired.

He headed for breakfast. And saw a girl sitting at the Demeter's table with her brothers and her sisters. But Nico just knew at that very moment that it was Gwen. It was probably because of her eyes that made him know instantly that it was her. The girl with green eyes. Now that it was bright and he could see, Nico took in as much information about this girl as much as possible. Her hair was the shade of chocolate brown, it was tied up into a neat ponytail, her green emerald eyes held his at that very moment, she smiled straight at Nico, and he just stupidly nodded once, as if saying "Morning to you too." Her face twisted into a curious and concerned look, "Are you all right?" Nico translated her facial expression. He nodded a few times and even gave her a faint smile.

Breakfast did not last forever, he was soon out and about, practicing sword fighting and prattling away in ancient Greek. It wasn't until he sat down and took a break did he realize that Gwen was sitting by the creek, a book in hand, boots off and swinging them freely over the water. Her weapon, a bow and a quiver of arrows, lay on the ground next to her. Nico hesitated for a while but walked up to her.

As he sat down next to her, Gwen looked up, her green eyes lighted up with glee when she realized that it was Nico. She put her book down on her lap and said, "So, how are you feeling?"

Nico swallowed his nervousness and managed to say, "Fine." Then, he gathered up all his courage and asked, "What about you?"

"I'm all right actually. Nothing like a little bit of nectar can't cure." She smiled. She bit her lip, as if trying to think what else to say, before it turned into awkward silence.

"Why were you in the forest?" They both said at the same time. This caused them both to laugh happily.

"I was looking for some game. I couldn't sleep last night… so I figured I could take a monster or two out and then go back and sleep." She answered, as she fiddled with her long green sleeves of her shirt. "What about you?"

Nico sighed, "I couldn't sleep too. So I took Mrs O' Leary— " And Nico sat there, as still as a rock. He had completely forgotten about Mrs O' Leary. Where was she? Did the scorpion thing kill her? Did she survive? Should he search the woods? Maybe he should.

"Nico?" Her soothing voice brought him back to reality. "What about Mrs O' Leary?"

"She's still in the woods." He answered shakily. Mrs O' Leary was more than a hellhound to him, she was his friend, (it might seem crazy but) she was the one that Nico seemed to talk to most of the time. And now, Mrs O' Leary was gone.

Gwen looked shocked, but the expression was wiped off her face after a while. And in place of it, determination took over. She thought about something before she started to pull on her boots and grab her bow and arrows. "Let's go find her." She suggested, as she stood up. She tossed her book to one of her cabin mates and looked back down at Nico, his expression was shock. He didn't expect that from a girl. They would usually just try to comfort you or something, but not Gwen. And he couldn't help but like her even more.


	2. Need a hug?

Well, both of them already had their weapons with them, so there wasn't a need to return to any of their cabins or anything. Who knew how many monsters were they going to encounter and kill to get back Mrs O' Leary? Usually, Nico didn't really give a shit about what happens in the forest at night. And that's when he goes alone with Mrs O' Leary and it's pitch black dark, with only the moonlight just to guide them. But somehow, Nico felt uneasy. He felt as if Gwen shouldn't be dragged into this situation. She is an innocent party after all. What will happen if she dies in there? What would Nico do? How would he answer Gerald or what's-his-name? All this happened because of him, doesn't he usually solve his own problems by himself? And, he just couldn't risk Gwen's life. Nico shook his head and said, "Gwen."

"Yeah?" She stopped and turned back to Nico. They were both merely a few feet away from the forest, you could practically hear the monsters growling and snarling at you.

"Err… You probably should stay here," Nico finally said, and wondered how she would take this information. Will she just easily agree and let Nico walk in the forest by himself? It's going to be all right. Nico was sixteen. He could handle his sword pretty well, he didn't need a girl or anybody else to sacrifice themselves for him. He wasn't a little boy like how he used to be.

"There's no way in heck am I going to let you go in there by yourself!" Gwen said angrily. "Anyway, that thing saved me, right? Well, now it's my turn," She added gently, as her cheeks became pink.

Nico shrugged. "Okay. But if any monster attacks…"

Gwen actually laughed. "Come on, Nico. You're— what? Sixteen? Seventeen? And, you're the Son of Hades for gods' sake!"

Nico felt a little good about himself at first, but he just let the feeling wash over. "Fine. Then let's go."

After a couple of metres into the forest, they both have heard strange noises and loud growls. Gwen jumped when she heard a twig snap or the rustling of the leaves, she would spin towards the direction of where the sound came from with her bow and arrow ready. But after a while, she got used to it, and actually lowered her weapon and slowly began to admire the scenery. Nico was acting that way too. He usually ventured into the forest at night, and was only used to it when it was dark, and now, it was bright. How different things seem to look when it was bright and when it was dark.

Nico kept turning his head back to check on Gwen, to see if she was fine, and she was, sometimes she was a few feet behind, but she was still there. He kept stealing glances when she wasn't looking, to see that some strands of her hair was dangling out of her high ponytail and were hanging over her face, or to see that she was staring at a colourful butterfly. He wondered if anyone found out that they were missing. What would the blonde dude say?

"So, are you familiar—" Gwen said aloud, but before she could complete her question, Nico turned around and rushed to her side to cover her mouth.

"Shhh!" He said angrily. "Got it?"

Gwen rolled her eyes and looked right into his olive green eyes, as if saying, "Oh come on. Like as if I didn't know that!"

"Yeah right," He said.

Nico then let go of her mouth and she said, "Sorry." Nico then went back to the front again and led the way, while, Gwen was suppose to guard the back. But she went to the front and whispered softly, "So you're familiar with the forest?"

"Go back behind!" He hissed. "What if we get attacked?"

But she just smiled and asked the same question yet again.

"Tsk," He said. "I'm only used to it when it's dark… during the day? I'm not really used to it," He explained.

"Why?" Her voice full of curiousity.

"Because," He began to explain yet again, "I usually bring Mrs O' Leary out for some kill, food, game. If I can't sleep, I would sometimes even go in by myself."

"Serious?"

"Yeah"

"Isn't that kind of dangerous?"

"Yeah but what can I say? 'I'm the Son of Hades for gods' sake'!" He quoted Gwen, and smiled at her laughter. It was one of those truly happy with just the right touch of shyness kind of laughter. He liked her laugh.

Now, they were just standing so close to each other, chatting happily, as if they had known each other for years. But, he still had some unsolved questions like why doesn't she walk away like how most people did? Nico literally radiates death. Can't she feel as if she was going to die when she was close to him? And yet, she never walked away from him when he approaches her. And now, they were just standing next to each other. He could feel his heart beating hard against his chest, he could hear the beat of his heart loud and audible in his ears.

"So after you shadow travel, you feel tired?"

"Yeah. After like I do shadow traveling or one of those really major stuff, I would feel tired. But I've been practicing a lot. So, it doesn't really bother me," He said. "But, if it's quite a long distance, I could sleep in for two or three days straight." He said it with pride. He felt so easy around her, as if he could let his guard down and talk freely about anything and everything.

But the happiness lasted for a short while, there was a rustling of leaves, and a low snarling noise. Both of them raised their weapons, ready to fight. At first there was nothing, but the monster leapt out and Nico instinctively stood in front of Gwen to protect her from whatever monster that was about to attack her. Then, he realized that he was ready to sacrifice himself for the girl with green eyes. He didn't react on time but realized there was a lot of gooeyness involved as the monster tackled him.

"Mrs O' Leary?" Nico said.

The hellhound barked happily. Nico let out a sigh of relief, while Gwen sat on the ground, wide eyed. "That's a really huge dog." She gawked at Mrs O' Leary.

"Yup. But she's mine anyway. Well sort of is," Nico began to climb on the back of Mrs O' Leary. "After Percy left, he told me to take good care of her." Percy Jackson still did visit Camp Half-Blood. Once or twice every few weeks or so, he would come back with Annabeth. Teach some campers a thing or two about sword fighting and talk about their adventures on the outside world at the campfire.

Nico offered his hand to Gwen, but she looked a little frightened, probably still shocked. "Hello? What's up with you? Not wanting to leave yet?" He said teasingly.

"No," She said. "It's just that…" She wasn't looking at Nico, but he knew she was afraid. Yup. Who would be afraid to get on a hellhound, which is like bigger than your average dog, with fire glowing eyes? "Will it be safe?" she asked.

"Of course it is." He smiled at her. But this didn't really erase her doubts. So he offered his hand again, gave her a reassuring smile and said, "Trust me. I'm here."

She looked at his hand and then looked up at him. Nico nodded once and she took his hand without a second thought. Nico hoisted her up and she sat behind him.

"How will it feel like?"

"It'll be like how it was when you shadow traveled with me." He answered her. He turned his head to check on her, she looked fine, as if she knew what was coming. So he turned to the front and said, "Hang on tight." And at once, her arms wrapped around him and she rest her head on his back. Apart from her cold hands desperately looking for warmth, Nico could feel something else too. Fear. She was trembling so hard, but Nico didn't know what to say. He wasn't a smooth talker like the guys in Aphrodite cabin, the ones where the girls will just go, "Awww…" whenever they said something sweet. He did not have anything encouraging to say to her either. So, Nico muttered softly, "Sorry."

She shook her head. "Let's just go back."

Nico felt put off about this though. _Why? 'Cause I couldn't make her happy? Feel reassured? Or better? What was it that she was so afraid of? Shadow traveling? Mrs O' Leary? Or was it… me?_

"Camp Half Blood." He muttered to Mrs O' Leary. And they were zooming through darkness yet again.

"Gwen?" Nico asked. She was hugging him too tightly. They were back where they started. Down by the creek, but the sky was the shade of orange now, with streaks of pink here and there. "Gwen, we're back," He said.

"Thanks," She said, and began to slide off Mrs O' Leary. She patted Mrs O' Leary a little and smiled at her. "She's adorable."

"Really?" Nico asked, as he too slide off Mrs O' Leary. She nodded her head smilingly. "Err… How do you feel now?" And then he thought about what those Aphrodite guys do. "Need a hug?" Nico held his arms open.

"I was thinking that hugging you all the way back was enough though," She said jokingly.

He felt his cheeks burn red. He said, "Hah. You're right." And he slowly put his arms down. "So what now?" He asked after a while.

"Maybe we should get back to our cabins?" She suggested.

"Yeah," And he turned around to go.

"Nico," Gwen called out, even though he wasn't so far away. He turned back and looked at her. "I'll see you at dinner," She smiled.

"Sure," He answered.

As night took the stage in the sky, bringing along it's twinkling stars, Nico was pulling on his sweater as he got out of his own cabin. He looked around at the other campers. Going off in groups of giggling girls to guys joking with one another happily, while all he had was himself. And he thought about what he would give to have his sister nagging at him to fold up his blanket and tell him off about something. He sighed. _I preferred it when you were alive and well._

He walked sulkily to his own table, where he sat alone. He got up and offered a slice of juicy beef to his own father. "Hades," He said. And the smell that was given out was a warm smell of pancakes, strawberries, mint, beef and a whole lot of things that didn't go well together. He went back to his table and began to chomp down his food. If Bianca were here, would she still tell him off about being picky with his food or to eat his vegetables? He felt sad to be alone. He watched as the other campers joked with one another loudly, laughing along merrily, talking about their tiresome day, the latest gossip about who and what they did.

Nico got up from his table, and started his way back to his cabin. But after walking for a while, someone tackled him from behind, "Whoa!" And they both fell over on to the grass behind a thick clump of bushes.

There was someone laughing lightly next to him, as they lied on the ground next to each other. She smelled of different flowers, of lilies and daisies. Her laughter had just the right tinge of shyness to it. Gwen. He turned to her and just watched her talk about the fact that he didn't notice her. She looked different now, her hair wasn't tied up like in the afternoon. Instead, it just laid on the ground next to her in a tangled mess of brown curls. Her hair wasn't long, it was just slightly over her shoulders. He looked at her eyes, then traveled down to her smiling lips, he listened to everything she did and say, from the story she told her cabin mates of where she disappeared that afternoon to how she spent the rest of her day reading her book. He closed his eyes and pictured everything she said in his head. "What about you?" She asked.

"Hmm?" He asked, as if he's been asleep, and not listening to her story. And he opened his eyes, and looked up at the dark sky, the twinkling stars. "Nothing much actually." He answered. "But I've been thinking a lot about my sister."

"Oh," She said, "I'm sorry about your sister." She looked at the night sky and furrowed her eyebrows.

"It's all right." He answered, and waved a hand, "It's okay. Really. You just got to pick yourself up, you know what I mean?" It was quiet for a long time before Nico looked at Gwen to see that she had tears in her eyes, he asked, "Gwen?" A tear rolled off her cheeks. "Gwen?" Nico asked gently.

She lifted her hand and wiped away her tears that were forming in her eyes. She swallowed hard, "I had a brother." She said with a faint smile. "His name was Trevor and he loved me more than anybody else. I mean, we were twins. Inseparable. Stuck with each other to the end. And we literally did but it's just that I didn't- I didn't—" She blinked back her tears. "I didn't kill the monster on time." She said. "We were fourteen then. Young and stupid." She paused for a while and their eyes locked. "He just left like that. He even told me not to take the blame, that it wasn't my fault. But it was as plain as black and white. I was weak. I didn't act on time." She wiped away the tears that were rolling off her cheeks.

Nico watched as Gwen drifted off to dreamland. He wiped away her shimmering tears and wrapped her in his arms. The nights were getting colder and longer, as winter approached. But Nico did not want to move, and he didn't want to wake Gwen up from her sleep. He just wanted to hold on to her forever.

He was just about to carry her when she muttered something softly, something that made Nico pretty pissed off, she had whispered Jared's name. He frowned and just forgot about it. He picked her up slowly, not wanting to wake her up, he had only just started to walk to cabin four when Jared appeared. "What did you do to her?" He said angrily.

"Nothing," Nico said answered innocently.

Jared eyed him suspiciously; apparently, he still didn't trust Nico. "Just hand her over. I'll bring her back." Nico obeyed and handed Gwen over, as he did, he took one last whiff of the sweet smelling flower that he was holding and passed her to Jared unwillingly.

As Jared took her into his arms, he swept away her hair, which was pretty much a brown mess now as it dangled over, he looked down at the unconscious Gwen with caring eyes, then he walked away as silently as he had appeared.

Nico felt sleepy, and began to walk back to his lonely cabin. As he lay on his bed thinking about his feelings, _sure she's cute but not to the extent of liking her, right?_ He nodded to himself and slipped off to a dreamless sleep.


	3. What's the point of telling me that?

**A/N: Hello! I have made some changes to the previous chapters. **

**Just an important note: Jared is in the Apollo cabin, NOT in Demeter's. Okay? Sorry for the confusion!**

**Thanks for reading and all your reviews!**

** ReadrOfBooks, Jy Spark, MirandaGraceWeasley. THANKS, YOU GUYS :D**

**READ!**

Everything was as normal as it was, just that when he felt like one person has accepted him, Gwen started to avoid him. It was like walking on thin ice, not knowing when it might crack. He's the only one who probably doesn't deserve any friends, isn't it? But still, he wondered why. Why now? What's going on now? Did Jared say something to drive her away? Was there a horrible rumour that's about him?

But he was strong, he knew he could handle any stupid rumour, because to him, they're just rumours. Something that somebody had made up, or just fabricated lies, not knowing the full story.

Well, it must have been quite a convincing story, 'cause she's doing so much to just avoid him. When he walks in her direction, she turned on her heels and walked far away, or she would strike up a conversation with Jared, who was nearly always was with her all the time. Sometimes, when Nico looked at Gwen from a far, he saw her laughing and smiling with Jared, chattering happily about things and teasing each other about their looks and mimicking each other's stupid expression. He seemed almost happy for them.

And as Nico practiced sword fighting with Percy, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gwen watching him. This took him off guard and he got hit hard on to the ground. The last expression he saw on Gwen's face before she hurriedly walked away was shock and pain. _Concentrate!_ He told himself._ She's got that blonde idiot already. Just focus. _

"Come on, Nico." Percy smirked. "Get up." If Percy was your teacher, you learn things the harder way. Sure, he does teach you awesome sword tricks and everything. He'll make sure you get the moves right. Tells you what the correct angle to jab someone's nose or something, or the ideal place to stand. On other days, he tells you what to do. Like today, Percy has been pushing and pushing Nico so hard, "Swing your sword!", "Duck!", "Dodge!", "Move, you idiot!" and some other 'motivating' things too.

As Nico got off the ground and faced Percy, Nico got into his fighting stance and got ready, but Percy didn't even move an inch, his smile slid off his face, he clicked his bronze sword, Riptide, and it turned into a pen. He put it in his pocket, and walked towards Nico, and says, "Let's get you to Chiron. You need some nectar and ambrosia."

"Why?" Nico began to ask. "I'm feeling perfectly fine."

"Yeah. Right," Percy said sarcastically. "If you could see for yourself, you've got a huge gash on your head and your nose is bleeding." He informed him. That's when Nico felt the blood trickle down his face, he touched the red stuff, and could feel that he was losing conscious. Percy rushed to his side and caught him before he fell.

"How did I get this?" Nico dropped his Stygian Iron sword on to the ground and placed his now free hand over the huge gash.

"Sorry, man," Percy apologized. "Must have hit you hard against the rock." He explained, as he half-dragged, half-lead Nico to the huge red barn house.

"But I don't remember that," Nico furrowed his eyebrows and did his best to walk, but his legs just felt like jelly, the world was spinning and he just felt sick.

"But you do know who you are, right?" Percy asked, his voice was filled with uneasiness.

"Yeah." Nico said, and tried as hard as possible not to close his eyes. _Nearly there, we're nearly there._ He told himself. "I'm Nico di Angelo. Son of Hades…" then, he felt as if he was falling into darkness.

Nico remembered waking up several times, but just to slip back into the unconscious world of sleep. When he was conscious, he caught glimpses of a shoulder-length blonde haired girl. She fed him ambrosia, she wiped his face when it had sweat. She nursed him back to health. Inside Nico's head, he kept wondering if Gwen had visited him or something. Or maybe even had suggested to Chiron to take care of him, instead of the girl here.

He woke up from nightmares of furies and the undead trying to kill him, but to only find he was going through them yet again. Sometimes, he thought of Gwen before he tumbled back to sleep, and everything would seem all right at first, his dreams were happy and great, Gwen was happy and right next to him, but the surroundings changed and they were in the forest. She was walking with a boy, who looked pretty much like her. The same brown hair, which, unlike Gwen, was a huge mess and the same twinkling emerald green eyes. Trevor. They were chatting happily, before a monster popped out of nowhere and started attacking them. Gwen had her bow and arrows ready, She fired her arrows rapidly but it was hard, especially since Trevor was up close with the monster, fighting with his sword. And all this while, Nico watched. As much as he wanted to jump in and help, He just couldn't move his legs. He stood there, rooted to the spot, and watched as Gwen realized she was running out of arrows and her brother was shouting at her to run away.

"No. No! Trevor!" She cried.

"Kill it!" He said over the monster's growl.

"I've got nothing!" She shouted. All she had was her bow and a dagger.

"Just go!" He said angrily and tried to fight it off, but at that very moment the monster pounced on to Trevor and his sword flew right out of his hands. The monster (which Nico realized was a hellhound) began to try to rip Trevor's head off. "I don't think that dagger can do anything against this anyway!" he was lying on the ground.

Gwen held out her dagger, her eyes were flashing to all over the place, looking for something to help save her brother. But there were just trees and twigs. There was nothing. What could she do?

And the next bit felt really strange, 'cause Nico saw flashbacks of Gwen and Trevor. Them smiling, laughing, him hugging her and both of them being so happy when they had killed their first monster.

And that's when the monster took out Trevor. Gwen had tears in her eyes, as she shouted his name. But Trevor did not respond this time, and she knew that from then on, she will never hear his voice ever again. The hellhound was advancing on her now, walking up slowly with its saliva dripping all on to the ground. Gwen was on the ground looking at her brother, she scrambled to her feet and crouched over her brother's body, which had shielded away injuries and sadness, which always protected her, but she was alone now. Nobody was going to protect her. She cried for him to wake up. And the monster took Gwen out.

Nico woke with a start, he was breathing hard, and tried to convince himself that Gwen was still out there, alive and breathing. Outside, the sky was dark. He was all alone in the room, and wondered how many days had he been out. There was the gentle creaking of the door and a blonde girl, with that very same shoulder length hair, stepped in. She was holding a cup full of nectar. She looked at Nico, as he tried to sit up. For a moment, both of them just stared at each other.

"How long have I been out?" Nico asked. "Was it like a week or two?" The nightmares and dreams were all so long. _It's definitely been a week._ He guessed.

"Just three days actually." Her voice sounded far away, as if her head was in some other dimension and not mentally here.

"Err… okay." His eyes flickered to hers. Olive-green met stormy grey.

"Here." Her voice wasn't as dreamy as it was, but much more concentrated. She gave the cup to Nico. "Eat up." As she turned around and headed for the door, Nico swore he saw her blush.

Nico drank the nectar slowly. To him, it tasted like some milkshake he drank when he was still at the Lotus Casino with Bianca… But he quickly pushed that memory to the back of his head, because of what had happened to her. He got out of bed and began to walk about. His feet were a little unstable and felt as heavy and stiff as lead, but that was probably due to him sleeping for three days. He managed to get to the window but lost his balance and had to hold on to the window sill for support. There was the light breeze of strawberries, and from where Nico was, he could see everything, the dining pavilion, the arena, the volleyball sand pit, the dense forest, the creek, the U-shaped arrangement of cabins, the stables, the strawberry field, just about everything. Nico stared at the sky, which was getting brighter and brighter by the minute.

After a few minutes, the girl came back to collect the now empty cup, she looked at Nico, "So… how do you feel?" She muttered.

"Much better actually." He moved his hand to his forehead to feel the deep cut was gone.

"That's good," She said with what seemed like a forced smile. And there was just silence. "I guess I better go," She got up from the chair that she was sitting and went for the door. Her hand paused at the doorknob. "By the way, I'm Ivy." She did not turn around to smile or tell anything else about herself. She just quickly left.

Nico sat on his bed wondering out loud, "What's the point of telling me that?" He turned to the window again, and saw that some campers were going for breakfast.


	4. Get Percy

Nico stretched out his arms, wanting so badly to catch her. Her, the girl who had dark silky hair like his, and the very same olive skin. His own sister, Bianca. He watched as she fell into nothingness. "No!" Nico shouted.

Nico's eyes fluttered open. _It was just a dream_. He thought to himself. He heaved a sigh of relief. He still did dream of Bianca. Frequently. Usually. Nearly every day. Her death was six years ago, and he would still wake up shouting for her to run from terrifying monsters.

He was leaning against a huge tree with Mrs O' Leary, which had her head rested on her paws, watching other demigods walk by, chattering happily. He pat Mrs O' Leary's head. He was happy for some company. He wished that he could spend the entire afternoon there doing absolutely nothing, but he knew that his lessons with Percy was probably about to start. So he got on to his feet, which made Mrs O' Leary whine and look up at him with puppy dog eyes. Nico got on one of his knees. "Sorry, girl," He grinned, "Got to train with Percy." Her head tilted to one side, as if asking a question. "You know. The guy who gave me a huge cut on my forehead." Nico pointed a finger at his forehead and made a slashing motion at it. Mrs O' Leary got up and ran off to the woods. Nico grimaced and headed for the arena.

Sword fighting was easier than ever; Nico practically beat Percy every single time. There were lots of breaks in between. Percy barely talked to him, except to tell him what to do or give him some praise. Nico just shrugged it off and gave a simple reason for Percy's weirdness. Percy was probably just guilty or something, but that shouldn't change anything. So once training was over, he walked over to Percy and asked, "Err… Did I do something wrong?"

Percy looked alarmed, "What? No. No, of course not."

"You're not guilty of hitting me into the rock?"

Percy looked down at his shoes, "Yeah. I still am sorry about the whole thing."

Nico smiled, "Come on, it's been a few days. And look."- Nico showed Percy his healed up, perfectly fine forehead- " If I wanted a scar, I'd ask Voldemort to give one to me, capish?" Percy burst out laughing. Harry Potter wasn't really Nico's thing. He knew the skeleton of the story- the typical boy who lived, chosen one and everything. He knew who was the bad guys, but never really knew who was who. He was stuck in the Lotus Casino for years and when Bianca and him got out, the craze was practically all about Harry Potter.

Nico smiled. Happy that the air didn't feel so heavy, hard to breathe. "I guess that's it for the day?"

"That's all for today," Percy nodded with a smile. Nico and Percy said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

As he walked, Nico thought about the activities he still had to do. In the afternoon, he had archery, which he did not like one bit at all. Rock climbing? Yup, of course he was great. You wouldn't want to be burnt alive in burning hot lava, right? And before dinner, he had to tackle ancient Greek, which has probably never worked out with him. Even Percy, who's been in camp much longer than him, can't get it at all. He sighed.

Archery. The arena. But the cabin that was there was still practicing. He was about to turn back, when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gwen, her hair pulled back into a high ponytail. Her green eyes concentrated on the target. And a second later, an arrow sprouted at bulls eye, while all of her other cabin mates' arrows missed the target, only a few managing to score a seven or an eight. Nico watched as her cabin mates squealed with delight, while the guys gave her a pat on the back, everybody smiling happily along. It was plain obvious that she was the best at archery in her cabin, rivaling even the Apollo cabin. Chiron beamed and told Gwen something that made her cheeks turn to a shade of peachy pink.

Apparently, that was the last shot, because they started packing up their stuff and heading back to their cabin. But once Gwen spotted Nico, instead of seeing her cheery smile, she quickly ducked out of sight behind her friends.

He suddenly felt an odd ticklish feeling beneath his feet. He looked down to see that vines were slowly twirling up his legs, up to his knees. He tried to move them, but to find that he was stuck to the ground. The vines started to encase his legs firmly, as if the children of Demeter were sending a message, saying, _stay away._ He stood rooted to the ground, literally, watching the sons and daughters of Demeter disappear into their cabin.

Nico felt angry. Why were they doing this? He didn't do anything.

The vines started to turn from green to brown, slowly withering away. After a few seconds, the vines fell limply to the ground, dead. But it didn't stop there; the once green grass that he was standing on started to yellow. He felt more powerful, as if he could do anything.

"Now, now," warned Chiron, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Remember what your sister said."

Nico closed his eyes and took in a few deep breaths. He felt normal again. "Sorry." He muttered apologetically, as he looked around him. The grass looked like they had suffered the worst drought ever.

Chiron picked up his bow and sheath of arrows. "Now let's begin."

Even after Nico's archery lesson had ended, he lingered back and watched Chiron trot back to the Big House. He was thinking of going into the woods to find Mrs O' Leary when-

A pure white pegasus half-galloped, half-flew into his view a girl he had only once seen before followed it, trying to chase it back into its stable.

"Hey!" called Ivy, chasing the winged horse frantically. "Come back!" – The pegasus suddenly turned around, charging Ivy head-on –"Whoa!"

The pegasus was about to gallop straight into Ivy. Nico had to do something before she became a pancake.

Nico waved his arms wildly, trying to get the pegasus' attention. "Hey, over here!"

The pegasus turned to Nico with wild eyes, and changed its course for Nico instead. "Oh, crap." He turned around and began to run. And all that time he was wondering, _why did I do that? Why did I do that?_

A small crowd had begun to form, a few stepping up, trying to help, but to no avail. Clovis, son of Hypnos, God of sleep, was dragged from his cabin by a couple of campers, hoping that he could make the pegasus fall asleep. However, he only walked a few steps with his palm facing the horse, attempting to make it sleep, before falling face-flat onto the grass.

Some children of Hecate tried to use their magic to lift rocks to corner the pegasus. However, the pegasus would simply either find gaps in between the rocks to fit through or fly over the rocks.

Then, Pollux started to quickly grow grape vines around the pegasus' hooves. But the pegasus moved around too much and quickly that before the first leaf had even grown, it had stomped out the vine. Pollux tried again, but this time, he wasn't alone; Gwen was right next to Pollux. She gave him a reassuring smile and they both began to grow vines.

Nico was still trying to distract the horse and chase it back into its stable, but it seemed to be having too much fun, and it did not want to go back. At one point, he found himself next to Annabeth and he said two words before the Pegasus started charging again: "Get Percy!"

She nodded and ran towards the creek.

Nico turned to the matter at hand; the wild pegasus. Apparently, it had once again broken free from the vines that had tangled it. Then, Nico shouted at the pegasus, attempting to stop it from stampeding the crowd. And then, an idea popped in his head. Nico could actually just easily absorb the stupid horse's life, couldn't he? He shook his head. What if he overdoes it? He could kill an innocent animal. Or what if he accidentally focuses on someone else in the crowd, and that someone dies? He snickered to himself, wondering what it would be like if it was a Jared-less world.

But enough daydreaming, the crazy pegasus was charging towards the crowd. Again. For the thousandth time.

"Come on!" Nico groaned. He ran to the front of the pegasus with his arms wide open, making it turn to the other direction.

But Nico realized one second too late. The pegasus was about to hurtle straight towards Gwen.

Nico's eyes widen in shock. "No," he muttered, more to himself than the pegasus.

Everything seemed to slow down, Even though Nico ran his fastest, he couldn't get to Gwen on time.

Gwen realized, not a second too late, that the pegasus was stampeding towards her. She dove out of the way. And from her facial expression, you could tell that she was ready for the worst. She screwed up her eyes and-

_Thump! _To Nico and Gwen's surprise, Gwen was saved from her hard landing and only landed in the arms of Jared Cormac.

"Are you okay?" He asked softly.

Gwen blushed. " I-I guess."

Nico clenched his fists in anger. Remembering what his sister had said, "_…holding grudges is dangerous for a child of Hades. It is our fatal flaw. You have to forgive. You have to promise me this."_

Then, someone shouted, "Percy's here!"

Percy Jackson was on Blackjack; Annabeth sat behind him, holding him tightly. Blackjack touched down with a small clop of his hooves. "What's going on?"

The white pegasus immediately turned on him with its mad eyes.

"Whoa," Percy said. "Calm down, calm down, Maximus." He looked at Maximus' eyes, reading its' thoughts. Maximus slowly trotted towards Percy and gave him a deep bow. "Now get back to your stable." He smiled. Maximus gave an irritated whinny, flicked its tail as if saying,_ you're lucky this time :D_

Percy chuckled, and turned to the crowd. "Now, who started this?"

Ivy stepped out of the crowd and feebly raised up her hand, she began to explain, "I'm sorry. We were having our pegasus lessons. And I realized that Maximus looked… sad and lonely, so I decided to try and ride Maximus" -She looked back at Maximus- "So, I got him out of his stable and was trying to put on the saddle and that's when he... well, escaped." She gave a meek smile and looked down at her shoes.

Percy sighed. "Now, you know why nobody rides Maximus. Only I can ride him, actually. But even sometimes he can go crazy on me. Well, what can I say? He's got a mind on his own." He chuckled and looked back at Ivy. "Just… don't pick Maximus next time." Percy smiled at Ivy, who was blushing like crazy. Percy then walked to Maximus and stroked its neck. "Let's go." He turned to Annabeth and nodded.

"Come on now!" Annabeth said, "Nothing to see. Get moving to your activities or whatever." Slowly, the crowd dispersed. Campers returning back to their cabins or walking back to where they had came from. Soon, all that were left were a few campers; Gwen and Jared were one of them. Nico decided he would apologise to Gwen the next day. That is, she will give him the chance to explain. He turned his back on them and was just leaving when he heard Jared call out his name.

"Hey Mico!" Jared shouted. "Aren't you going to apologise?"

Nico let out a deep sigh and turned back. "First of all, it's Nico. You know it starts with an N-"

"Whatever." Jared interrupted, he was on his feet, Gwen was right next to him, she didn't look injured or anything. She had a sad look in her always smiling eyes, as if she knew where all this was going to go. Her pleading emerald green eyes met Nico's olive green ones.

Nico looked away from Gwen, and watched Jared walk up to him. Gwen needed to know that he was innocent anyway, that he didn't want Maximus to get to her. "Second of all, I didn't lure Maximus to Gwen! It wasn't on purpose. It was an accident." Nico explained, trying to keep calm.

Jared narrowed his eyes. "You're always causing Gwen to get hurt."

"What?" Nico sounded confused, he looked back at Gwen.

"That time in the forest? You made her so weak, she could barely stand!" Jared shouted angrily.

Nico could not believe this. "She was there before I was. I didn't even know that she was in the forest that night!"

Jared scoffed, "So, it was just a coincidence that night? And you _knew_ where she was?"

"I just followed my giant dog!" Nico answered angrily.

"Your dog?" Jared asked in disbelief. "Then, where is it?"

"Somewhere. I don't know. In the forest?"

Jared laughed. "If I don't see it, then I don't believe you. But whatever it is, just make sure you stay away from Gwen." He said with an air of warning.

Then, Gwen piped up, "It's true." Jared turned back to her. "I've seen it before. She was… adorable." She gave a faint smile to Nico, who immediately blushed.

"Gwen, you've probably hit your head too hard or something." Jared's voice had softened up to her. Then, his voice turned stern and strict and pointed his index finger at Nico and added, "And I don't want you hanging out with Nico anymore!"

"What?" Gwen gasped. "But-"

"Please," Jared pleaded. "For me?"

Gwen gave a long sad look at Nico. "I… I…"

"Promise me." Jared said, putting both her hands in his.

"Fine." Gwen sighed. She looked at Nico. "I'm sorry I avoided you. I told you something nobody really knows. Then, I felt like I didn't trust you. But after all these days I realize that you didn't tell anybody and… I'm just so sorry, Nico." A tear ran down her cheek.

Nico couldn't hold it in anymore. How could Gwen mistrust him? And why on earth does Jared have the power to stop Gwen from seeing him? He wasn't her dad or boyfriend or anything.

He gritted his teeth, and a fissure opened up in the earth and out came three skeletal warriors. One of them was a civil war soldier, another looked like pirate and the last one looked like a Japanese soldier.

"No!" Gwen shouted. "Nico! Stop!"

But it was too late; Nico's anger had consumed him. He pointed at Jared and the three skeletal warriors stumbled towards Jared.

**A/N: Hello. Sorry for the lateness of the chapter.**

**hah. okay. Percy Jackson will be in the story, along with Jason Piper and Leo**

**and some other characters from Lost Hero as well. Cause I don't really know the time line for the story**

**so yeah.**


	5. She's mine

**A/N: HELLO. OHMYGODS. I'M REALLY SORRY FOR THE LONG TIME NO POST. HAHA. I'VE BEEN REALLY BUSY AT SCHOOL AND COULD NOT FIND THE TIME! AHHH SORRY!~**

dreammanize, kittykatkitkat, Juicystars101, Mirandagraceweasley, ReadrOfBooks, Jy Spark. **Thanks so much for the feedback! And to the others who had alerted my story, YES, I KNOW, but didn't comment- thank you to you too! ≥o≤ **

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Several campers backed away, but only a few brave ones drew their weapons, ready to fight. But even as they swung and chopped off the skeletal warriors' arms clean off their shoulders, the bones just simply reassembled themselves.

The pirate took out hit cutlass and started hacking everything in his way. Even as more campers stumbled in to try and fight him off, it seems clear that his main aim was Jared. In fact, the other two skeletal warriors were like that too. Apparently, they didn't kill any of the demigods that stood up to fight them, but merely left them with a few cuts and bruises. Soon, the campers just backed away, knowing that the fight was useless. Most sprinted towards the Big House, running to get help.

Nico felt exhausted, all he felt like doing was just sleeping. His legs felt like jelly, his eyelids felt heavy. But he knew he couldn't succumb to sleep, he had to stay awake to watch this fight. Plus, he was the only one who could call the warriors off. He placed his hand on a tree for support and looked at who were still fighting. Mainly, Jared and Gwen. Nico cursed in frustration, he clenched his fists and knocked them against the tree, he didn't want Gwen to get hurt.

At that very moment, Chiron was right behind Nico. He gave a deep sigh, "Nico, you have to control your anger." Chiron said calmly, but Nico shook his head and ignored him. "You have to stop this. Gwen is injured badly. Jared's doing fine, but a little ambrosia would help."

Nico sighed; he drew his Stygian Iron sword and raised it into the air. With reluctance, he thrust it into the ground. Exactly where the sword hit the earth, a fissure opened up, small at first, but quickly encroaching towards the skeletal warriors. The Civil war soldier fell in first, followed by the Japanese soldier. The pirate was last, still attempting to cut off Jared's head. The fissure closed up, and Nico slumped to the ground, back against the tree. He heard hurried footsteps coming towards him. He felt a cold hand brush against his cheeks.

"Nico? Nico?" Both of Gwen's hands were on his cheeks now, as if she was going to kiss him. He managed to open his eyes to see Gwen's face at such close proximity. She smelled like roses and lilies. He managed a faint smile.

"He's okay," Chiron said calmly. "Just tired after draining so much of his energy for his powers. He just needs some rest." – Chiron turned to Gwen – "And you should probably go to the Big House to get healed up."

Nico heard somebody storming towards them: Jared.

"Jared?" asked Gwen, puzzled, standing up. "Are you all right?"

Nico knew what was about to happen before it did.

"Jare – NO!"

Jared delivered a punch to Nico's left cheek. The last thing Nico remembered before he blacked out was Gwen trying to stop Jared from hitting him again.

He woke up, startled. The very first thought that came to him was, _this is my second time being here this week._

The sky outside was watermelon pink, with streaks of gold. _Probably dusk, _Nico thought.

He looked around the room; it had the same things as the first room he was in that week had. _Probably the same room._

At that moment, the door creaked open and Ivy entered the room. She brought him a glass of liquid. _Probably nectar. _

"Thanks," Nico mumbled.

"Err…" Ivy said. " Your girlfriend wanted to take care of you, but her, I guess, ex-boyfriend? I don't really know the full details, but her ex thought otherwise."

"Mm… Okay?" Nico answered. He sipped on the nectar, which tasted like the same milkshake he had earlier that week.

Ivy sat at the foot of his bed, waiting for him to finish drinking the nectar. It was awkward, watching her waiting for him to finish. She'd twiddle her thumbs and look around the room. _Anywhere_ around the room, but Nico.

To break the ice, Nico asked, "What's your name? I mean, full name?"

"Ivy. Ivy Jones," she said, with an air of pride. "I'm a daughter of Iris, goddess of rainbows."

"Oh. I'm Nico di Angelo." He said nervously. "Son of Hades, god of the Underworld... So, how did your father get noticed by Iris?"

"He's quite a famous toymaker," She said with a smile. "In London? 'The Little Craft Shop'? He makes all these little wooden knickknacks. It's really adorable." She stroked a necklace that she wore, made of different coloured beads. Nico counted six in all. Three had the letters I, V and Y for her name. The rest of the beads were probably camp beads, representing the number of years she spent there. _Three years._ "How many years have you been here?" She asked quizzically.

Nico pulled out his own necklace and counted the beads. "Three years," He said. "Though I've known Camp Half-Blood for six years, for three years, I was running around trying to find out my past."

"Oh," Ivy said, as if this was a touchy topic. "Did you manage to find your memories?"

Nico nodded and drained his cup of nectar. He handed it to the girl who had been waiting patiently for him. "Yeah. I did manage to find out how my mum looked like."

She took the cup gingerly and smiled, "I bet she looked pretty."

Nico smirked, as Ivy stood up and left the room. "Yeah. She was beautiful." He said to himself. He sat in silence for a while before standing up to retrieve his sword that lay in the corner.

He stepped out of the Big House and went back to his cabin. The sky was watermelon red and streaked with gold. There were campers running off to the showers and others were lazing about, reading books and chatting. And as Nico walked past the creek, he saw Gwen reading a book, accompanied by Jared, who was glaring right at him, as if saying, _stay away_. And he promptly put his arm over Gwen's shoulder. She did not look up from her book or anything; she just continued to read.

Nico glared back. He pointed to Gwen and mouthed the words _she's mine_. Nico saw anger wash through Jared's usual happy features before he turned away.

A week later, snow covered the grounds of the camp, snowmen were built and the usual wars of snowball fights have been going on. Some campers left Half-Blood Camp to celebrate the Christmas holidays with their families. Slowly, the number of campers lessened and friends bade goodbye to each other and hoped to see them return soon.

It's been a long time since Nico had talked to Gwen. And even as he sat in the dark, cold forest, he still thought about her. The moon shone brightly that night as Nico sat next to Mrs O' Leary. He scratched Mrs O' Leary's neck, and said, "It's getting way too cold out here, girl." Mrs O' Leary looked up at him with pleading eyes. Nico smiled. "Don't give me that." And he stood up on his feet. " Let's get going."

Both Nico and Mrs O' Leary walked to the edge of the forest and Nico got a wet goodnight kiss from Mrs O' Leary. He forced a smile. "Oh. Thanks, girl." Mrs O' Leary stuck out her tongue, as if smiling at him. Suddenly, her head jerked up and she stood still for a second or two. Nico followed her gaze leading to the amphitheatre and the next moment, she was about to run straight for it. "_Stay. _I'll go check it out." Nico held her back. "Go find some nice place to sleep or some delicious scorpions to eat." Mrs O' Leary's eyes lighted up when Nico said 'scorpions'. She tilted her head, as if saying, _really? _

"Yeah. Just go." He gently nudged her into the direction of the forest, but she stayed stubbornly glued to the spot and watched as he began his journey to the amphitheatre.

* * *

He crept up slowly to where the camper sat and settled to hide behind a bush. _Who on earth…? _Nico wondered. It was a girl with a messy braid and she sat by the small campfire, apparently looking down at something. She wore a jacket and a dark pair of skinny jeans. It was hard to tell with the firelight but Nico couldn't really be bothered by the details. He stood up slowly, wanting to leave, but the snow crunched under his shoes. He cursed silently as the girl sprang up onto her feet. Nico went back to the ground and heard the girl draw her weapon.

"W-who's there?" She called out. Nico smirked, sensing that the girl was afraid. "I know you're there." She paused. And a second later, an arrow sprouted out of the ground a few centimeters away from where Nico's head was.

"Whoa!" Nico sprang up from the bush. And he held his hands up as if he was a criminal.

"Nico?"

Nico's eyes took a few seconds to get adjusted to the light that was coming from the campfire and realized that it was Gwen holding up her bow and an arrow aimed for his heart.

"Yeah. It's me, okay?" He said. "Please don't kill me."

Gwen grinned. "I wouldn't." She went back to relax mode. She walked to the campfire and she gestured for Nico to come along.

"What are you doing up so late?" Nico asked. He looked at her.

"Couldn't sleep." She smiled. "Wanted to read." She held out her book. "Plus, I'll wake all my other cabin mates if I read my book with the lights on." She looked at Nico. "And you?"

"I was with Mrs O' Leary." He looked up at the starry sky. "She lead me to you."

"What?" Gwen stifled a laugh. "She led you to me?"

"Yeah, actually. The first night we met. And, well, today too." Nico answered.

Nico could see Gwen blush in the firelight as she looked down.


End file.
